Page 18 of Skin Deep

His eyes stayed connected with mine and I could tell he was feeling me out. “I want you to work for me,” he said, going straight in for the kill. “I need a good man on my payroll. A man loyal to me only.”

“Do you expect to be in trouble often, Mr. Kelly?”

He opened and closed his hands. “Never can tell when problems, real or exaggerated, will arise. I plan for all contingencies.”

I copied him, opening and closing my hands. “I have no real experience. Hence why I have no briefcase with a resume in it. All my work experience has been at the stadium.”

“You’re a lawyer.”

It wasn’t a question, but I nodded. “Fresh meat,” I said. “I should be starting out at the very bottom, making my way to this…position.”

He leaned forward a little, setting his hands on his desk. “A lawyer that represented my father is about to retire. I’ve already made arrangements for you to shadow him before he does. I’m a great judge of character, Harry Boy, and I can tell you’re a fast learner. You’ll do what must be done.”

I grinned. “How can you be so sure?”

He returned the grin. “You’re not only book smart—” he touched his temple “—but you’re street smart. That goes a long way in my book. Besides that, you have goals, or else you’d be starting out in the mail room of some law office, working your way up. You know your worth, or else you’d be there and not here. Granted, there are things you still have to learn, but I’m certain with the help of Mr. Shannon and hours spent in the court room, you’ll be the best in your field in no time. You’ll also be mine. That comes with perks. The reason why you held out for something worth your time.”

“You have my attention,” I said.

He nodded once. He opened his drawer, pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, and then scribbled something down. He slid it toward me. It had more zeroes than I’d ever seen. While I was still studying it, he pulled it back.

“That’s just the beginning, Harry Boy. The more you learn, the more experience you get, the higher your worth. I pay for what I get, understood?” He didn’t even bother to look up as he continued to scribble. He passed the paper back to me.

“A house?” I blurted.

“A bonus,” he said. “I’ll also pay off your student loans and any debt you incurred while in law school. Along the way, you do right by me, this is the beginning of what I’ll do for you.” He studied my face for a second. “You think you’re making a deal with the devil, don’t you?”

His accent was a little odd at times. His Irish lilt was interspersed with the clip of a fast-talking New Yorker.

“Aren’t I?”

He shrugged. “Me or someone else, it’s all the same, except I’m paying you what you’re worth. Even more, as you are now.”

“There has to be more to this,” I said.

“Always,” he said, not denying it. “You know who I am. My name—what it means on the streets. A friend to all is a friend to none, Harry Boy, for the both of us. I’m not the friendly type, which means I have more enemies than I do friendlies. I’m not only hiring you, but also securing your loyalty to me.”

He reached out for the paper, and I almost snatched it back, but I wanted to see what he was going to put down next.

His signature at the bottom—it was more solid than anything he’d written so far.

Then he wrote my name and created a line for me to sign on. He slid it back to me.

They say all men have a price. Cash Kelly not only dangled mine in front of my face, like meat to a starving animal, but he dotted the contract with fresh blood—his signature ready to be bound to mine.

“We all have dreams, Harry Boy,” he said, but I didn’t lift my eyes from his signature, from my future staring back at me. “It’s what we’re willing to do for them that defines who we are.”

“I appreciate the sweet talk,” I said, knowing if I was going to do this, I was going to have to match this man’s wits. “But I have one stipulation, even if I don’t have much experience. I know the odds of this game, Mr. Kelly, and I refuse to go in with them stacked against me. You'll keep the machine oiled, and I'll keep the wheels turning, using what I learned in law school, whatever Mr. Shannon is willing to teach me, and what I know from the streets. So, here it is. You’re honest with me—at all times. If not, I walk.”

I lifted my eyes to meet his. I refused to budge on this.

“You’ll know more than my priest.” He grinned at me, pushing the paper a little closer.

“Will I need a priest if I lose?”

“Nah,” he said. “Only if you double-cross me.”

“In that case,” I said, reaching out and pulling the paper closer.

I signed on the line.

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